Amazon Greenlights Six More Original Shows, Renews “Alpha House”

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Confirming and expanding on news scooped by Variety earlier this month, Amazon this morning officially announced its plans to greenlight six more of its Amazon Studios’ pilot shows, which are now being given full seasons. The new shows, which include The After, Bosch, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, Mozart in the Jungle, Transparent and Wishenpoof!, will come to Amazon Prime Instant Video.

Though an exact time frame was not provided in this morning’s announcement, Variety reports that the new shows will arrive either later in 2014 or early 2015, according to Amazon Studios director Roy Price.

In addition, Amazon notes that it’s shooting the shows in 4K Ultra 4D, a high-definition video format offering an aspect ratio of at least 16:9, and capable of a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels or 8.3 million pixels. (Or four times the number of pixels as standard full HD).

From among this group, the standouts include the cop drama Bosch, based on Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series, the mysterious series The After from former X-Files creator Chris Carter, and the two comedies Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent, the former written by Roman Coppola (“Moonrise Kingdom,” “The Darjeeling Limited”), and featuring actor-musician Jason Schwartzman, and the latter written and directed by Jill Soloway (“Afternoon Delight,” “Six Feet Under” and “United States of Tara”), and with a cast that includes Jeffrey Tambor, Judith Light, Gaby Hoffmann, Amy Landecker and Jay Duplass.

These were the first four shows picked up for the greenlight.

The other two shows, Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street and Wishenpoof!, meanwhile, are children’s programming targeting kids aged 6-11, with Wishenpoof! notable for coming from Blue’s Clues’ creator Angela Santomero.

Amazon also has three other original kids’ shows starting this summer: Creative Galaxy, Tumble Leaf and Annedroids. The company says, too, that its preschool programming board includes advisor Dr. Alice Walker, who formerly headed up R&D on both Blue’s Clues and Blue’s Room.

Another well-known show, the D.C.-based Alpha House, has also been given a second season, says Amazon. The company doesn’t reveal how many viewers its shows have, but Alpha House was the most popular on Prime Instant Video during parts of Q4, said Variety.

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